V

There were few students outside the classroom, all revising for the upcoming test. Sasha sighed discontentedly. Her entire study routine was ruined. She felt somewhat awful at how weak she was when it came to him, to the point that she swallowed her pride. Her eyes diverted down to her white and yellow sneakers

"Hey, Sasha!" A cheerful voice greeted her which seemed annoying to her.

Sasha looked up to see a tanned skin girl who was a few inches taller than her. Sasha groaned in annoyance, looking away from the eager female before her.

"Tori can you please leave me alone for now," Sasha said

"But why? I had something to tell you! You wouldn't believe what happened!" Tori said smiling like the maniac she was.

"But I don't want to hear it!" Sasha snapped at her.

Tori Simpson. A bright student but an extremely annoying one as well. She had a bad habit of intervening in every matter whether or not she is involved in it, which made her very much disliked around the campus. Sasha was a victim of her such activities which made, her dislike Tori as well. Sasha was never enthusiastic about an interaction with her but Tori always forcefully imposed it on her. So Sasha couldn't help but be bitter.

"Listen! Do you know what happened? Sebastian said he still loves my friend but he is scared.." Tori continued blabbering about a guy she met at some coaching in high school who happened to be the ex of her friend, which she doubted was true.

Sasha had seen this guy too as she, unfortunately, attended the same coaching back at high school. Tori kept on blabbering on how she is attempting to get them back together which Sasha was least bothered to listen to.

"Tori! You can see she is not interested in talking to you! Why is it so hard to accept?" A voice suddenly said making Sasha sigh in relief

"I was just talking to her," Tori said scoffing

"And she is not interested. So bye" Amelia said pulling Sasha to the opposite side with her.

"Thank you!" Sasha said in relief

"Why don't you just directly say you do not want to talk to her?" Amelia asked

"You think I have not? She is not one to listen!" Sasha exclaimed.

"Yeah true... Where were you by the way?" Amelia asked

Sasha felt the hair on her body stand up straight like some student standing rigid when the head of school passes by. She felt herself shiver internally as she thought of the incident from earlier. It was certainly something unexpected. Sasha's pulse began to quicken and the vibrations felt like a bullet train was making its way through her nerves. Her heart palpitated in reluctance to make the revelation. It was as if the heart was shaking its head, denying to let a word come out of it. With shaky breaths, Sasha responded.

"In the l-library" She spoke with a shaky voice.

"The library? I went there, I didn't see you there" Amelia said squinting her eyes as if judging Sasha.

"When did you go?" Sasha asked raising an eyebrow as well trying to sound natural.

"About fifteen minutes ago" Amelia responded

"Oh! Really? I was sitting at the very corner, you must have not noticed me" Sasha said laughing a little. Her palms had become a condensed cloud as they sweated in nervousness. She did not understand why she was fearing so much. She considered it to be anxiety.

Amelia looked at her as if nothing down all her actions with just a look of an eye. Her eyes calculated and cold as she stared Sasha down, almost freezing her. Sasha shifted under her gaze.

"What?" Sasha asked abruptly, discomfort taking over her.

"I know you're hiding something but I won't push you. Tell me when you're ready" Amelia said looking away not uttering another word about Sasha's sketchy behavior.

Sasha just sighed not saying anything in response. She just simply stared at the ground.

"Oh! Sis do you know Aiden and Nicole broke up?" Amelia said suddenly getting excited.

Sasha looked up immediately as she heard the mention of the name. No one knew that they broke up better than her at this point. She was the first one who had faced Aiden after his breakup. He almost vented it put on her but thanks to his consciousness, she was saved.

"Yeah, I heard," Sasha said in a monotone voice with no hint of sadness or excitement. Just a raw voice answering the question asked to her.

"Huh! That was probably the first time a girl dumped Aiden. He must be frustrated" Amelia said

"Yeah, he is," Sasha said without realizing. She immediately cursed under her breath.

"What? How do you know?" Amelia asked confused

"How do I know what?" Sasha asked acting flustered

"That he is frustrated?" Amelia said

"I meant I am sure he is" Sasha responded trying to sound obvious.

"Ohh," Amelia said with her mouth forming an 'O' as well.

The bell rang indicating it was time for the test. Sasha and Amelia head inside and sat on their desks.

Sasha tapped her desk impatiently, giving it was signal she was nervous. The desk let Sasha vent out her nervousness on it like giving her unknown sadistic satisfaction, as it did not but just give out the tapping sound. The paper was soon placed in front of Sasha, and without wasting a second she took a look at the questions. To her surprise, she knew everything. Sasha sighed in relief as she felt the fear of not achieving a minimum mark, melt away.

"Good luck!" Sasha heard a voice calling out for her. She diverted her eyes to the direction of the voice, to see Amelia looking at her with her thumb up. Sasha smiled and responded.

"Good luck to you too," She said

"You may begin the test!" An announcement came from the teacher

Sasha took a deep breath and began the test.

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The crowd roared out of the classroom like a herd of bees getting out of its hive, happy to finally start the day with some delicious honey. The students came out of the classroom delighted that the problem for the day was over. The test.

Sasha came out of the classroom alongside Amelia who was blabbering about something that happened to her cat, Rio, with who she was very much in love with. Sasha could not focus on what she was saying. Sasha was lost her in own world, wandering places trying to forget about the enormous mess the storm had created. A part was happy, showering herself in satisfaction and contentment. Another part of her just felt lost. The latter had taken over her mind like a strong king taking over another kingdom invading every place in it. She tried her best to get rid of the feeling, but they were just too stubborn.

"Are you even listening to me?" Amelia said snapping her fingers in front of Sasha's eyes

"No sorry.." Sasha answered honestly

Amelia rolled her eyes at that and said.

"Let's go we have another class!" She said as she pulled Sasha with her.

Then the day went on and Sasha's mood dropped with every second passed by.

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The moonlight crept through the window to the room. The white light shining onto the contents of the room gave it a silver-like shade. The moonlight-coated trees peeked from outside the room trying to take in as much as possible, as the wind pushed them further against the window.

Sasha stared up at the ceiling not being capable of getting the scene of her mind. The light shining on his tanned skin giving it a golden shade giving a representation of what looks devilishly beautiful. His bloodshot eyes looking like a pool of blood as his eyes held nothing but immense pain like an endless abyss. His messed up hair each strand going into its direction which might have looked like a bird's nest to others but to her, they looked like an ethereal piece of art. Then she remembered his passed-out state and her heart began to clench knowing, she could do nothing to reduce his pain. He had to endure it himself.

The situation was absolutely out of place. Sasha was unwillingly tangled into this impossible web of confusion, which she begged to get out of. It didn't feel like her puzzle to solve but she felt the need to grace her presence into the conflict. She clenched and unclenched her hands as a thought crossed her mind.

She is always the second option in his life

A lone tear escaped her eyes as she thought of her position. It was meaningless and served no importance. She was again, just another person from the past. Sasha closed her eyes. Her eyelids had a shade of crimson red as her blue veins became visible, while the kids vibrated in unbearable pain. Tears escaped her closed eyes like ants coming out from under a closed door.

With a heartbroken to millions of pieces, Sasha cried herself to sleep

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Two days had passed since that incident occurred. Sasha was able to get some of it off her mind, getting engaged in different activities including studying and extracurricular. She was glad that she could do so.

The hallways were pretty much clear with few students who were unknown to her standing by their locker looking for something while some were just simply chatting. Sasha head towards her locker which was almost near the end. She soon reached the yellow box and entered her combination code.

As soon as she opened the locker, she was taken by surprise. There laid a bar of chocolate with paper attached to it. Sasha cocked an eyebrow as she picked up the paper. There was a message written onto it with not very delicate handwriting.

'Thank you for helping'

The note said. Sasha felt a smile creep onto her face as she made assumptions as to who it could be. She looked forward to the chocolate to see it was her very favorite brand. Her heart fluttered knowing someone cares enough to remember the chocolate brand she preferred. A knock was heard on her locker door and she looked up to meet with a short-haired boy.

Sasha forgot to breathe for a moment. She did not expect to ever have any sort of contact with this person ever again but here he is.

"N-Nathan?" She stuttered not knowing what else to say

"Hey..." Nathan responded awkwardly.

"Ummm hello?" Sasha's response came out more like a question.

"Do you have a minute?" He asked

Sasha sighed as she analyzed all the possible reasons for his presence.

"Look if you're here to "warn" me about saying things to people or to stay away from you guys in the future. Let me just inform you, I never intended to talk to you both. It's the situation that made me bound to do so. Also not to forgot your friend had attacked me. So if that's what you're here for, then I suggest you leave and stop wasting your time" Sasha declared crossing her arms around her chest.

Nathan stared at her with a look of disbelief as he poked the inside of his cheek. He suddenly broke out into a smirk making Sasha furrow her eyebrows at that

"I wasn't here to do any of that. I was here to say thank you for helping and also apologize for my behavior earlier" Nathan explained

"O-Oh..." Sasha let out awkwardly looked at him as Nathan looked down.

"Yeah and also..." Nathan trailed off before speaking again.

"Aiden wanted to talk to you"